TIFF announcement postponed after shootings
The Toronto International Film Festival has cancelled a press conference scheduled for Tuesday in light of Sunday night’s shooting in the city.
Festival officials said in a statement they have scrapped the event “out of respect for those affected.”
They added: “The Toronto Danforth area is the gold standard of our city’s vibrancy and we stand with our fellow Torontonians in condemnation of this violence.”
The press conference is expected to announce the first batch of titles headed to the festival, which runs Sept. 6-Sept. 16. Last year’s announcement included the booking of such future hits as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Call Me By Your Name and The Shape of Water as well as the world premiere of director David Gordon Green’s Stronger, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Tatiana Maslany.
The festival says it will make Tuesday’s announcement via press release instead. The Canadian Press and Star staff
Martin Lawrence coming to Toronto
Veteran comedian Martin
Lawrence will headline an evening of standup at the Scotiabank Arena, on Nov. 2, arena owner MLSE revealed Monday. Lawrence’s LIT AF tour, which earlier this year went to Los Angeles, New York, Miami and points in between, has added 19 new dates including Toronto’s — so far, the tour’s only Canadian date. DeRay Davis, Michael Blackson, Adele Givens, Benji Brown are also on the bill. Tickets go on sale July 27 via Ticketmaster but there’s no word on prices yet.
In other concert news (all tickets on sale July 27 via Ticketmaster and Livenation.com): American electronic duo Thievery Corporation play Rebel on Nov. 11; R&B veteran Maxwell performs at the Sony Centre on Nov. 23; rapper Mac Miller, with Thundercat and J.I.D opening, also performs at Rebel, on Nov. 25. Star staff
Drake extends Billboard reign
For a third week in a row,
Drake easily held the top spot on the Billboard album chart, his huge streaming numbers holding off a new entry by Wiz Khalifa.
Drake’s new album, Scorpion, had the equivalent of 260,000 sales in the United States last week, according to Nielsen, a figure that includes 290 million streams and 29,000 copies sold as a full album. Last week the CD version of Scorpion finally went on sale, although it sold only 13,000 copies and, for such a blockbuster, it was barely visible in New York City stores — a sign of just how dramatically CD sales have plummeted, and how record companies have instead made streaming their highest priority.
Wiz Khalifa’s Rolling Papers 2 opened with the equivalent of 80,000 sales, which included 84 million streams and14,000 copies sold as a full album. The New York Times
Ex-Hazzard star given probation
A former star of The Dukes of Hazzard TV show has pleaded guilty to inappropriately touching two women in the cast of a musical in Waltham, Mass., in which he starred. Prosecutors say 66-year-old Tom Wopat was sentenced Friday to a year of probation after pleading guilty to two counts of annoying and accosting a person of the opposite sex. The New York City resident was charged last August with touching two female cast members while rehearsing for 42nd Street at Waltham’s Reagle Music Theatre. Wopat played Luke Duke on the popular 1980s television show. The Associated Press
Activist to play trans superhero
Atransgender activist who won a discrimination lawsuit after her school refused to let her use the girls’ bathroom will be TV’s first transgender superhero.
Nicole Maines will star in The CW/Warner Bros.’ Super
girl as Nia Nal, a.k.a. Dreamer. Producers describe her character as a “soulful young transgender woman with a fierce drive to protect others.”
Maines gained national attention for her battle against her Orono, Maine, school district over her right to use the girls’ bathroom.
Maine’s highest court ruled in 2014 that school officials violated state anti-discrimination law when they required her to use a staff restroom. The Associated Press
Briefly
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association says it has picked a date for next year’s Golden Globe Awards. The association said Monday that the 76th annual awards ceremony will be held Jan. 6 well ahead of the Oscars on Feb. 24.
Viewers will see two familiar faces when Good Morning America launches its third hour. ABC News on Monday announced Michael Strahan and Sara Haines will co-host GMA Day. The show is set to premiere at 1 p.m. on Sept. 10.
After eight previous tries, the husband of celebrity chef Paula Deen has won the Hemingway Look-Alike Contest held in Key West, Fla., where writer Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote during the 1930s. Michael Groover won the contest held on Saturday at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, where the author often relaxed.
Researchers at the alma mater of Dr. Seuss say the furry orange protagonist of The Lorax and the Truffula trees may have been inspired by specific monkeys and trees in Kenya. A Dartmouth College anthropology professor suggests Seuss was inspired by patas monkeys and whistling thorn acacia trees in Kenya, where he wrote much of the book. Star wire services